Brooklyn man wrongfully convicted of murder exonerated after spending more than 20 years behind bars

Derrick Hamilton, 49, was exonerated Friday after spending more than 20 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit. (James Keivom/New York Daily News)

A Brooklyn man who spent more than 20 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit was finally exonerated Friday — the fourth wrongful conviction that was secured by a now-discredited former NYPD homicide detective.

Derrick Hamilton, 49, wept tears of joy in the courtroom as his conviction was erased by the words of Supreme Court Justice Raymond Guzman who urged that no fault be placed on the jurors who found him guilty.

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"The jury goes by the evidence before it," Guzman said. "That a wrong has been corrected is a tribute to the justice system."

Hamilton and his lawyers made it perfectly clear where the blame should be placed — on retired Detective Louis Scarcella who allegedly coerced a witness to implicate Hamilton.

"I have no sentiment for him (Scarcella)," Hamilton said outside court, wearing a black baseball cap with the words "Wrongfully Convicted" printed on the front and "Victims of Detective Scarcella" on the side.

"I believe he belongs in jail," Hamilton said of the once-celebrated investigator.

Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson's conviction review unit is reviewing about 100 murder convictions from the past 25 years.

Hamilton was paroled more than three years ago after a Daily News story detailed flaws in his case. (Ward, Jesse, Freelance NYDN/Ward, Jesse - Freelance NYDN)

Scarcella played an investigative role in more than 70 of the cases being reviewed.

Assistant District Attorney Mark Hale said in court that the unit had looked into Hamilton's case over the past year and concluded the witness, Jewel Smith, who testified at trial is "unreliable, incredible and for the most part untruthful."

Hale made no mention Scarcella who had interviewed the witness. Smith was the girlfriend of murder victim Nathaniel Cash who was gunned down in Bedford-Stuyvesant in 1991.

Outside court, Hamilton recounted how on the day he was arrested in a Connecticut beauty salon, Scarcella walked up to him, kissed him on the forehead and said, "'L.G. motherf-----r,'" referring to the murder at the Lafayette Gardens housing project.

But lawyer Scott Brettschneider pointed out that karma came back to haunt Scarcella because it was Hamilton's appeal that opened the door to the detective's questionable practices.

The judge urged Hamilton's lawyers to desist from Scarcella-bashing because it wasn't his day — it was Hamilton's.

"It means the world to me to be standing here and declared innocent," he said.

"I'm not saying I'm not bitter. I'm containing my bitterness."

Lawyers for Scarcella said in a statement, "As he has previously made clear, the District Attorney found no evidence that Detective Louis Scarcella did anything inappropriate while assisting the assigned Detective in this case."

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Hamilton recommended that a statue of Thompson be erected in Brooklyn to honor his commitment to rendering justice.

Hamilton held his 2-year-old daughter in his arms as he was asked about what comes next: He will continue working to exonerate other wrongfully convicted men, take a vacation, but first thing on the agenda: "Party, party, party!" he laughed.

When he was released from prison three years ago, the parole board noted a Daily News story in which Smith admitted that she had lied at Hamilton's trial.